By Fauzia Arshi / Jeddah
A group of African laborers allegedly raided and looted on Thursday a large amount of sacrificial meat, which was being transported in a truck near Jarana district of Makkah in Saudi Arabia.
The sacrificial meat was being transported under the Adahi scheme, which is a Saudi government project under the supervision of the Islamic Development Bank for utilization of Haj meat, which is distributed to needy people and countries. The incident came to light after a Saudi citizen captured the incident on video.
According to motorists on Makkah highway and the video clip provided by the Saudi, African laborers stopped the truck and made away with the meat even as the truck driver tried to stop them. The video clip of the attack was posted on all the social media networks.
Hafizur Rahman, a motorist who was passing by the spot at the time, said: “It was horrible to see the truck come to a halt in the middle of the road, apparently due to some technical problem, and the horde of African laborers seizing the opportunity to loot the meat.”
“It created a traffic jam on the road, and I was wondering why the traffic police, which is supposed to patrol the Makkah Highway at all times, was not present,” Hafizur Rahman said.
Many motorists noticed the theft, but no one helped the truck driver as the incident occurred quickly and some witnesses didn’t realize what was happening.
“Initially, I couldn’t understand what was going on, since it happened so fast,” Hafizur Rahman said. “But later I realized what was happening, when I saw the Africans coming out of the truck carrying bags of meat and the truck driver trying to stop them.”
The Adahi project is one of the services offered by the Kingdom to help pilgrims perform their religious duties. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, president of IDB and Saudi government project of utilization of Haj meat, recalled that before the Adahi Project was introduced over 30 years ago, the project sought to sanitize the system against unscrupulous elements that take advantage of the pilgrims in the name of Adahi, when in reality, they do not have the resources to purchase the livestock.
Ali said the project was meant to serve the pilgrims by providing livestock that meet all Shariah and health requirements and by ensuring the cleanliness of the environment around the holy sites. He also said that the livestock is inspected by veterinarians and Shariah scholars.
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